Roman Bohnen
Encyclopedia
Roman Bohnen was a stage and film actor.
Born Roman Aloys Bohnen in St. Paul, Minnesota, Bohnen attended the University of Minnesota
, where he was a cheerleader. He cheered so vigorously that it changed his voice for the rest of his life. After graduating in 1923 with a B.A., Roman served his acting apprenticeship in theater companies in St. Paul and Chicago
, eventually spending five years with The Goodman Theatre. At the Goodman, he fell in love with fellow actor Hildur Ouse, who became his wife.
The Bohnens moved to New York City, where he made his Broadway
debut in 1931 in As Husbands Go. In the summer of 1932, he was invited to join the Group Theatre, which became his artistic home for the next nine years. As a member of the Group, he appeared in numerous plays and was active in all aspects of the company. On January 2, 1933, Bohnen took over a lead part in the Group's hit play, Success Story by John Howard Lawson
. The very next day, Incubator, a play Bohnen had written with John Lyman, opened on Broadway (produced by another organization). Although Incubator received favorable reviews, it closed quickly. In the plays written by his friend, Clifford Odets
, for The Group Theatre, he created the roles of Dr. Barnes in Waiting for Lefty, Schlosser in Awake and Sing!, Gus Michaels in Paradise Lost, Tom Moody in Golden Boy and Mr. Tucker in Night Music.
Bohnen summered at Pine Brook Country Club
in Nichols, Connecticut
. Pinebrook is best known for becoming the summer home of the Group Theatre (New York). Some of the other artists who summered there were; Elia Kazan
, Harry Morgan
, John Garfield
, Lee J. Cobb
, Will Geer
, Clifford Odets
, Howard Da Silva
and Irwin Shaw
.
The Bohnens had a daughter in 1936, Marina, nicknamed "Button" by her father. The Group Theatre disbanded in 1941, the same year that Hildur died. After the failure of a play called Five Alarm Waltz that same year, Bohnen and Marina moved to Hollywood.
Bohnen's first film was the 1937 Vogues of 1938. By 1941, he was working almost exclusively in film. Among his better-known roles are Candy in Of Mice and Men
(1939) and Pat Derry in The Best Years of Our Lives
(1946). He also played Durand Laxart, Joan's uncle, who takes her to see the Dauphin of France, in the Ingrid Bergman
Joan of Arc
(1948).
Bohnen was cast as President Harry Truman in The Beginning or the End
, an MGM docu-drama about the atomic bomb. After a private screening in late 1946, Truman let it be known that he disapproved of his portrayal regarding the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan. On December 2, 1946, Bohnen wrote Truman that he should portray himself. On December 12, Truman responded to Bohnen's letter, but declined the chance to portray himself, and said that he was "sure you (Bohnen) will do the part creditably". Ultimately, the scenes were re-shot with actor Art Baker re-cast as Truman.
Bohnen, who was known as Bud to his many friends, was also a fine photographer. He took countless photos of his fellow actors, his family, friends and strangers.
With other former Group Theatre actors, he co-founder of the politically active Actors Laboratory Theatre. During World War II
, the Actors Lab performed for over one million soldiers. Like many of his Group cohorts, Bohnen was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
. Eventually, he was blacklisted, creating financial, social and artistic stress. He was working on the Actors Lab production of A Distant Isle when he collapsed and died during the play's intermission in Hollywood, California in 1949.
Born Roman Aloys Bohnen in St. Paul, Minnesota, Bohnen attended the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
, where he was a cheerleader. He cheered so vigorously that it changed his voice for the rest of his life. After graduating in 1923 with a B.A., Roman served his acting apprenticeship in theater companies in St. Paul and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, eventually spending five years with The Goodman Theatre. At the Goodman, he fell in love with fellow actor Hildur Ouse, who became his wife.
The Bohnens moved to New York City, where he made his Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
debut in 1931 in As Husbands Go. In the summer of 1932, he was invited to join the Group Theatre, which became his artistic home for the next nine years. As a member of the Group, he appeared in numerous plays and was active in all aspects of the company. On January 2, 1933, Bohnen took over a lead part in the Group's hit play, Success Story by John Howard Lawson
John Howard Lawson
John Howard Lawson was an American writer. He was head of the Hollywood division of the Communist Party USA. He was also the cell's cultural manager, and answered directly to V.J. Jerome, the Party's New York-based cultural chief...
. The very next day, Incubator, a play Bohnen had written with John Lyman, opened on Broadway (produced by another organization). Although Incubator received favorable reviews, it closed quickly. In the plays written by his friend, Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...
, for The Group Theatre, he created the roles of Dr. Barnes in Waiting for Lefty, Schlosser in Awake and Sing!, Gus Michaels in Paradise Lost, Tom Moody in Golden Boy and Mr. Tucker in Night Music.
Bohnen summered at Pine Brook Country Club
Pine Brook Country Club
-Introduction:Pine Brook Country Club began when Benjamin Plotkin purchased Pinewood Lake and the surrounding countryside on Mischa Hill in the historic village of Nichols, Connecticut. Plotkin built an auditorium with a revolving stage and forty rustic cabins and incorporated as the Pine Brook...
in Nichols, Connecticut
Nichols, Connecticut
Nichols, a historic village in southeastern Trumbull on the Gold Coast of Fairfield County, was named after the family who maintained a large farm in its center for almost 300 years. The Nichols Farms Historic District, which encompasses part of the village, is listed on the National Register of...
. Pinebrook is best known for becoming the summer home of the Group Theatre (New York). Some of the other artists who summered there were; Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
, Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan
Harry Morgan is an American actor. Morgan is well-known for his roles as Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H , Pete Porter on both Pete and Gladys and December Bride , Detective Bill Gannon on Dragnet , and Amos Coogan on Hec Ramsey...
, John Garfield
John Garfield
John Garfield was an American actor adept at playing brooding, rebellious, working-class character roles. He grew up in poverty in Depression-era New York City and in the early 1930s became an important member of the Group Theater. In 1937 he moved to Hollywood, eventually becoming one of Warner...
, Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...
, Will Geer
Will Geer
Will Geer was an American actor and social activist. His original name was William Aughe Ghere. He is remembered for his portrayal of Grandpa Zebulon Tyler Walton in the 1970s TV series, The Waltons....
, Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets
Clifford Odets was an American playwright, screenwriter, socialist, and social protester.-Early life:Odets was born in Philadelphia to Romanian- and Russian-Jewish immigrant parents, Louis Odets and Esther Geisinger, and raised in Philadelphia and the Bronx, New York. He dropped out of high...
, Howard Da Silva
Howard Da Silva
Howard Da Silva was an American actor.-Early life:He was born Howard Silverblatt in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Benjamin and Bertha Silverblatt. His parents were both Yiddish speaking Jews born in Russia. He had a job as a steelworker before beginning his acting career on the stage...
and Irwin Shaw
Irwin Shaw
Irwin Shaw was a prolific American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best-known for his novel, The Young Lions about the fate of three soldiers during World War II that was made into a film starring Marlon...
.
The Bohnens had a daughter in 1936, Marina, nicknamed "Button" by her father. The Group Theatre disbanded in 1941, the same year that Hildur died. After the failure of a play called Five Alarm Waltz that same year, Bohnen and Marina moved to Hollywood.
Bohnen's first film was the 1937 Vogues of 1938. By 1941, he was working almost exclusively in film. Among his better-known roles are Candy in Of Mice and Men
Of Mice and Men (1939 film)
Of Mice and Men is a 1939 film based on the novella of the same title by American author John Steinbeck. It stars Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney, Jr., Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele and Noah Beery, Jr...
(1939) and Pat Derry in The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives
The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell, a United States paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States...
(1946). He also played Durand Laxart, Joan's uncle, who takes her to see the Dauphin of France, in the Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc (1948 film)
Joan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
(1948).
Bohnen was cast as President Harry Truman in The Beginning or the End
The Beginning or the End
The Beginning or the End is a 1947 film about the development of the atomic bomb in World War II.It was directed by Norman Taurog and starred Brian Donlevy and Hume Cronyn...
, an MGM docu-drama about the atomic bomb. After a private screening in late 1946, Truman let it be known that he disapproved of his portrayal regarding the decision to drop atomic bombs on Japan. On December 2, 1946, Bohnen wrote Truman that he should portray himself. On December 12, Truman responded to Bohnen's letter, but declined the chance to portray himself, and said that he was "sure you (Bohnen) will do the part creditably". Ultimately, the scenes were re-shot with actor Art Baker re-cast as Truman.
Bohnen, who was known as Bud to his many friends, was also a fine photographer. He took countless photos of his fellow actors, his family, friends and strangers.
With other former Group Theatre actors, he co-founder of the politically active Actors Laboratory Theatre. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Actors Lab performed for over one million soldiers. Like many of his Group cohorts, Bohnen was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
. Eventually, he was blacklisted, creating financial, social and artistic stress. He was working on the Actors Lab production of A Distant Isle when he collapsed and died during the play's intermission in Hollywood, California in 1949.
Partial filmography
- Vogues of 1938 (1937) (uncredited)
- Of Mice and MenOf Mice and Men (1939 film)Of Mice and Men is a 1939 film based on the novella of the same title by American author John Steinbeck. It stars Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney, Jr., Charles Bickford, Roman Bohnen, Bob Steele and Noah Beery, Jr...
(1939) - The Tell-Tale HeartThe Tell-Tale Heart (1941 film)The Tell-Tale Heart is a 1941 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. The screenplay by Doane R. Hoag is based on the 1843 short story of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe....
(1941) (short) - Edge of Darkness (1943)
- Mission to MoscowMission to MoscowMission to Moscow is a book by the former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union Joseph E. Davies published by Simon and Schuster in 1941. It was adapted into a film directed by Michael Curtiz in 1943....
(1943) - The Song of BernadetteThe Song of Bernadette (film)The Song of Bernadette is a 1943 drama film which tells the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who, from February to July 1858 in Lourdes, France, reported 18 visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was directed by Henry King....
(1943) - None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
- Counter-AttackCounter-AttackCounter-Attack is a 1945 war film starring Paul Muni and Marguerite Chapman as two Russians trapped in a collapsed building with seven enemy German soldiers during World War II...
(1945) - A Bell for AdanoA Bell for AdanoA Bell for Adano is a film directed by Henry King starring John Hodiak and Gene Tierney. The film was adapted from the novel A Bell for Adano by John Hersey, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. In his 1945 review of the film, Bosley Crowther wrote, "... this easily vulnerable picture, which came...
(1945) - Two Years Before the MastTwo Years Before the Mast (film)Two Years Before the Mast is a 1946 adventure film based on Richard Henry Dana, Jr.'s travel book of the same name. It starred Alan Ladd, Brian Donlevy, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva and Esther Fernández.-Plot summary:...
(1946)
- Deadline at DawnDeadline at DawnDeadline at Dawn is a 1946 film noir, the only film directed by stage director Harold Clurman. It was written by Clifford Odets and based on a novella by Cornell Woolrich . The RKO Radio Picture was the only cinematic collaboration between Clurman and his former Group Theatre associate,...
(1946) - The Strange Love of Martha IversThe Strange Love of Martha IversThe Strange Love of Martha Ivers is a black-and-white film noir released in the United States in 1946, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott and Kirk Douglas in his film debut. The movie is based on the short story "Love Lies Bleeding" by playwright John Patrick, using the...
(1946) - The Best Years of Our LivesThe Best Years of Our LivesThe Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American drama film directed by William Wyler, and starring Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, and Harold Russell, a United States paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States...
(1946) - Brute ForceBrute Force (1947 film)Brute Force is a brooding, brutal film noir, starring Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn and Charles Bickford. It was directed by Jules Dassin, with a screenplay by Richard Brooks and the cinematography by William H. Daniels....
(1947) - Song of LoveSong of Love (film)Song of Love is a biopic starring Katharine Hepburn, Paul Henreid, Robert Walker, and Leo G. Carroll, directed by Clarence Brown and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer....
(1947) - Arch of TriumphArch of Triumph (1948 film)Arch of Triumph is a 1948 American war romance film made by Enterprise Productions. The film was directed by Lewis Milestone and adapted from the 1945 Erich Maria Remarque novel Arch of Triumph....
(1948) - Night Has a Thousand EyesNight Has a Thousand EyesNight Has a Thousand Eyes is a 1948 film noir, starring Edward G. Robinson and directed by John Farrow. The screenplay was written by Barré Lyndon and Jonathan Latimer. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Cornell Woolrich.- Plot :...
(1948) - Joan of ArcJoan of Arc (1948 film)Joan of Arc is a 1948 Technicolor film directed by Victor Fleming; starring Ingrid Bergman as the French religious icon and war heroine. It was produced by Walter Wanger. It is based on Maxwell Anderson's successful Broadway play Joan of Lorraine, which also starred Bergman, and was adapted for the...
(1948) - Mr. Soft TouchMr. Soft TouchMr. Soft Touch is a 1949 film about a man on the run from the Mob. It stars Glenn Ford and Evelyn Keyes.-Plot:Polish American Joe Miracle returns from fighting in World War II, only to find his San Francisco nightclub under the control of the Mob, and his friend and partner Leo missing and...
(1949)